Spiffy:

Iffy:

"Time-tested" is a nice way of saying archaic; Atlus has hit us with too many similar RPGs too often.

The Shin Megami Tensei series has a long history on consoles that's probably too boring and convoluted to recount. Suffice it to say that it's been a classic to Japanese gamers since the NES days, but it wasn't until the PlayStation 2 and last year's Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne that one of the series' main games, and its disturbing apocalyptic version of traditional RPG gameplay, was unleashed on Western gamers. The result? A new cadre of fans was created, but the title didn't win over Final Fantasy's legions. Earlier this year, Digital Devil Saga took the series a step closer to the mainstream with the adoption of simpler, less punishing gameplay, more polish, and an engrossing and cinematic story. Digital Devil Saga 2 continues this trend, and looks to be the series' best chance at grabbing an even bigger slice of the RPG audience.

While the story in the first Digital Devil Saga was subtle and darkly interesting, it turns out that it was all basically just a run up to this sequel, where the real meat of the tale begins. The game's characters, a tribe of warriors known as Embryon, hailed from the Junkyard, a society nothing more than a vast battlefield. DDS2 takes these heroes and thrusts them into something much closer to home: the real world, on the brink of apocalypse, where people are driven underground due to environmental collapse and a mysterious disease caused by a sun turned black.

Where the story sequences in DDS were intriguing and somewhat bizarre, the cinemas in DDS2 are immediately engaging and very dramatic. From the opening, which is slick, and shows lead Serph fighting soldiers in the aboveground wasteland, to the dialogue-heavy interstitials between dungeons, it's clear that the developers are driving a tale straight at the heart of average RPG fans. With story elements that echo popular games and movies such as Final Fantasy VII, Xenosaga, and the Matrix (hacking, people as data, an underground resistance movement, artificial humans used for mysterious purposes, scientists acting as God) but a visual style and dry, sarcastic tone of its own, this is a story that feels familiar yet is uniquely itself at the same time.

One reason it's so unusual is its characters. The Embryon members come from a world where emotion was unknown, and battle was all that mattered. Changed into demons in the beginning of the original DDS, the tribe had to learn to cope with new powers and a hostile world becoming even more brutal. Now, they're thrust into an entirely new situation, and their personalities, ranging from the coldly analytical to the passionately emotional, are what keeps things fresh and exciting.

Gameplay-wise, Digital Devil Saga 2 is a highly traditional RPG. If you played the first game or Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, you'll recognize much of what you see. If not, you'll adjust quickly if you've ever played a Final Fantasy. The game has you exploring lengthy dungeons, fighting random battles against enemies, and raising your characters' stats and unlocking their abilities as you play. It's familiar, and fairly streamlined. In particular, the mantra (ability) system has been revamped from the last game, adding complexity to the character-building that seems even more rewarding. You'll unlock different sets of spells and abilities on a giant hexagonal grid; special ones are interspersed, requiring careful management to unlock. It's definitely something that will appeal to obsessive gamers who enjoyed Final Fantasy X's sphere grid while suddenly being different enough to stand on its own.